"Joseph L. Hyde" wrote in message
.. .
Hi,

A quick note about our club policies. At Memphis Soaring Society all
memberships are FAMILY memberships. This means that spouses and children
are included in one initiation fee. There is the additional fee for the
SSA
memberships of the additional family members, but that is small. Our club
encourages the sport and glider port as a family activity. We have a
small
number of youth who are actually flying at this time. In the short time
that I have been a member (2.5 years) there have been no incidents where
youth has been a factor.

With that being said, my spouse has said she has no intent of ever seeing
the gliderport. Oh well.....

I do think this is a great policy for a club to take. Somewhere deep in
the
charter of this club it is stated one purpose is to provide flight
training
for the lowest cost possible.

Now from my personal viewpoint. I began flying at 15 (power) and only
wish this sort of club had been available. This is an aging sport, we
MUST
encourage youth soaring or this sport will wither. The affiliation with
CAP
is well meaning, but most kids do not wish to march in uniform to the
barked
orders of some wanna-a-be colonel who probably never served a day in his
life. (My apologies to some of the few stellar squadrons out there) I
think that clubs that promote youth flying are clubs that are working to
insure their own futures. (Just a personal opinion) I am going to
enclose
the url to our club's website if anyone is interested.

In closing,,, please forgive me for my self-serving promotion of our
club..... To the Ulrich,,, I hope you are able to find encouragement
for
your son from your organization, after all, it is in THEIR best interest
also. and btw....send me your mail address email. I think I never sent
you
the mylar I promised last year for root seals.

Take Care and Fly Safe,

Joe Hyde

Surprisingly, wear of the uniform was one of the big draws to CAP (according
to a survey). My local CAP squadron does scant little, if any, flying.
Other squadrons do much better. Explorer Scouting may be an opportunity to
organize a youth group with an aviation emphasis. See
http://www.learning-for-life.org/exp...ion/index.html

Frank Whiteley